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Wapak wins pitching duel

LIMA — In a tight pitcher’s dual, the Wapakoneta Redskins ACME team managed to bunch enough of its few hits together as they took a 3-1 win home from Lima Central Catholic High School on Tuesday.

The Lima Central Catholic ACME team quickly jumped out to take a 1-0 lead off of Wapakoneta starting pitcher Brandon Miller, but Miller settled down the rest of the way. He scattered four hits over four innings.

Miller faced consistent battles with LCC pitchers, and found himself in constant battles with hitters. However, he more often was able to come up with the right pitches at the right times to work out of jams.

“After the first inning he settled down pretty well,” Wapakoneta ACME assistant coach Mike Bogan said. “He got down in the count early and that caused him to throw a lot of pitches, but he settled down and threw strikes.”

The high pitch total caused the Redskins to go to the bullpen early, and a well-rested Chandler Kaeck was strong through three innings of work. He threw 73 percent strikes on 40 pitches and yielded three hits. He struck out the side in the sixth inning and never allowed a runner to get beyond first base.

“We haven’t used Chandler a whole lot lately,” Bogan said. “He had plenty of rest and came in and did a great job. He threw great pitches and really pounded the zone.”

Wapakoneta hitters had problems solving LCC ace Nick Watkins, getting only six hits, but they were able to group enough of them together to get the win with a three-run inning in the third.

Alex Koch led off the inning doubling into left field, and Josh Apple beat out an infield hit to shortstop. Back-to-back screaming line drives by Brandon Schreiber and Brandon Miller put the Redskins up 2-1. Schreiber later scored on a 4-6-3 double play. The Redskins were unable to score again but it proved to be enough.

“You have to credit LCC they are a great team,” Bogan said. “Fortunately we had the one inning where we were able to bunch enough of them together and score a few runs.”

Watkins singled to left to put the tying run at the plate with one out in the seventh, but was later thrown out overstretching second base on a hit by Drew Jennings for the final out.

“We were able to get a few hits but we weren’t able to band them together,” LCC head coach Brian Gephart said. “Watkins threw a lot of pitches but we decided to stick with him and he pitched a great game. We just couldn’t put enough runs across the plate.

With the win, Wapakoneta is now 14-2 on the year. They host Coldwater tonight. LCC falls to 11-5 and hosts Spencerville tonight.